barack obama

After I excitedly sent the "Yes We Can" music video around to basically everyone I know, I read an open letter addressed to "Obama Groupies" on American Thinker that really pissed me off. "Let me share something that scares me about you," writes Ian Rock to enthusiastic Obama fans like myself. He's concerned and alarmed, he says, because we are mistaken in citing Obama's electric charisma as the reason for our support. He even goes as far as mentioning George W. Bush and Hitler as examples of the dangers of the personality effect. I'm afraid that those who remain unconvinced by the Obama craze might agree with him--but I want to let him know that he greatly he underestimates us. It's not Obama's charm, but the fact that we see our ideals reflected in a candidate who can put them into action, that has us in such a tizzy. Now, I definitely scare myself too sometimes, and I do wonder if I'm being overly emotional, supporting Obama for superficial reasons and praising him like a little schoolgirl (which I kind of am, see: membership in the Columbia Students for Barack Obama Facebook group). But the "he lights up a room" read more

Hillary Clinton can't beat John McCain. The big lesson of Super Tuesday? That the Republicans have figured this out, and they're going to nominate him—even though many of their loudmouths can't stand him. I have to hand it to the Republicans—they want to win. I'm not so sure the Democrats do. Obama fans have much to celebrate today. Obama did far better than perhaps even his campaign anticipated, and he's in a great spot for the rest of the race. Time favors him. The longer the race goes on, the more votes he tends to peel away from Clinton. I'm optimistic that he may actually win the nomination, and I sure hope he does, because he's our best shot at getting the White House. Clinton fans are going to disagree with me, for sure. But I've spoken to a lot of them, and I've noticed that many of them are voting for her because they have a grievance. They want to be "right." They're women who are whining that it's "our turn" to lead the country. They're Bush haters who want to "get" the Republicans for running us into the ground for the last seven years. These people need to read more

Now that third-wheel candidate John Edwards has dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination, Hillary and Barack finally got some “alone time” together in a televised debate. Without John’s interruptions, these two were able to have some pretty substantive exchanges—especially on Iraq. (See the full transcript here.) A big red light in my head went off when Hillary started talking about “coercive diplomacy” and her vote for war. I immediately thought it was some kind of oxymoron. She used the phrase when she was trying to explain why she voted for the war in 2002. She said in 1998, when she was First Lady, she knew Saddam Hussein was a megalomaniac “and knowing he would not want to compete for attention with Osama bin Laden there were legitimate concerns about what he might do.” Therefore, she voted for the war resolution that authorized the president to use force in Iraq. According to Hillary, her vote to go to war was only a threat. Not a promise. But, that doesn’t sound like “coercive diplomacy” to me. That’s more like triangulation. It was off this conversation that Obama scored his best zinger of the evening. “I think everybody…understood this was a vote read more

Barack Obama may be going around inspiring people by proclaiming himself and his supporters "happy warriors for change," but I don't think it'll be much of a change when he gets to Washington and decides to sends some real warriors into Pakistan. Obama's recent statements at the ABC/Facebook debates last week—about supporting a military strike against Al-Qaeda in Pakistan if the Pakistani government wasn't cooperating and we had actionable intelligence—aren't new; he took a lot of flak over this back in August. I don't get it. How is this support of the "war on terror"—an abstract war that defines the Bush tenure—compatible with the change he is supposed to represent? Call me crazy, but I thought that Obama's repeated message about how he never supported the Iraq war implied that his approach to so-called terrorist threats would be different right from the start. But even after Charlie Gibson pointed out mid-debate that "What you just outlined is essentially the Bush doctrine," Obama stuck to his, er, guns. He again asserted that as president, he would make sure to strike first at anybody who might do America any harm—sentiment that sounds not much different from the Bush rhetoric we've dealt with read more

Glamour has invited all the presidential candidates to guest-blog on Glamocracy; their postings will appear between now and Super Tuesday, February 5. Tell us what you think about this blog posting. And read what the Glamocracy bloggers have to say. I wouldn’t be running for president today without the women in my life. I was raised by my grandmother Madelyn Dunham, who loved my mother and me so completely that she rejected the bigotry that might have torn other families apart and embraced my parents’ marriage. And she taught me a lesson that I’ve kept throughout my life, one that’s at the heart of my campaign—the idea that what unites us is stronger than what might divide us. My mother, Ann Dunham, was the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and what is best in me, I owe to her. She died of ovarian cancer in the prime of her life, and I’ll never forget what she was most worried about in those final months. She was between jobs when she was diagnosed and she wasn’t sure whether insurance would cover her treatment. So I know what it’s like to see a loved one suffer because of a read more

Last week, former Senator Bob Kerrey made some pretty original comments regarding the positive aspects of Barack Obama’s Muslim heritage, saying that he liked that his name was “Barack Hussein Obama,” and observed that his connection to Muslims and Indonesia “is a real strength”. I was glad to see someone so clearly describe the way in which Obama’s presidency would send a positive message to the world. But I was just as amazed when Kerrey apologized to Obama a couple of days later. It was disheartening to realize that any kind of comment about Obama and Islam, even one obviously meant as praise, must be considered an insult. Why should Kerrey have apologized? Because he’d also just announced that he supported Hillary Clinton? He should be able to endorse Clinton and extol the potential benefits of Obama’s slightly Muslim upbringing. Kerrey was implying that America’s president needs to change the world’s impression of us as Islamophobes and resolve our foreign policy mess in the Middle East. I’m glad he suggested that a commander in chief with ties to Islam (as tenuous as they might be) could perhaps accomplish this better than others—a lesson for voters who otherwise might not vote read more

I hope the presidential candidates have had a chance to see the new movie, The Kite Runner. Evocative and tragic like the novel it is based on, the film has the potential to put Afghanistan back into our campaign discourse, where the topic has been pretty much disregarded. Republican Ron Paul, one of the few candidates who’s actually spoken on Afghanistan policy, has advocated for removing troops. This isolationist view syncs with American anti-war attitudes, but it worries me: Won’t such a tactic essentially abandon Afghanistan to the Taliban? Even Barack Obama has failed to provide meaningful guidance. Although in March he said that we needed to focus on Afghanistan instead of Iraq (not really a satisfactory solution), his only other comment came in August when he said that U.S. troops in Afghanistan are “just air-raiding villages and killing civilians” and that more ground troops are needed. That remark gave Mitt Romney a chance to take a jab at Obama, saying his characterization demonstrates the senator’s lack of experience. Ever the politician, Mitt didn’t take the opportunity to say what he thinks should be done instead. As for the other candidates, they have said … nothing. As long as read more

Fifty years ago, someone like me—African-American, female, etc.—wouldn't have had the opportunity to have my job as an editorial writer at the San Francisco Chronicle. For that I have to respect the struggles of a man like Andrew Young. Young is a stalwart of the civil rights movement and was a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1960s. Unfortunately, I can't respect the things that have come out of his mouth lately. Dr. Young doesn't like Sen. Barack Obama, who's my favorite presidential candidate. Fine. Many civil rights stalwarts, like Jesse Jackson, have been wary of Obama. But in trying to explain why he doesn't like the guy, Dr. Young just comes off like an old, bitter, jealous, sexist man. You can read what he said, but for the full flavor you really should watch the video. In case you can't believe your ears, this is what he said: "Bill is every bit as black as Barack. He's probably gone with more black women than Barack." So many problems here. First of all, can everyone please stop saying that Bill Clinton is a black man? It makes absolutely no sense. Second, bringing up these men's dating read more

Hello, Glamocrats! My name is Asma Hasan. Besides being a software attorney here in Denver, Colorado, I am also an author of two books about Islam in America. Everyone always asks me about my political perspective as an American Muslim woman. And now you can find out! I hope you will share your comments on my postings. Unless you shun all media, you already know of Oprah's weekend campaign flurry for Barack Obama. Heralded as a political holy grail, this Hollywood endorsement could be the miracle he needs to defeat Hillary Clinton's political machine. If anyone can make wine out of water these days, it would be Oprah, who turns old Russian novels into bestsellers and gives away cars. As commentators wax philosophical on "The Oprah Effect," I, as a member of the Oprah demographic, am feeling a little marginalized and underestimated. A lot of these pundits seem to think that if Oprah told me to jump off a bridge, I would. (For the record, I wouldn’t!) I do love Oprah. She spoke at my college graduation. Believe me, at a women's college, there is no greater sisterhood moment than Oprah speaking at your commencement. Oprah has taught many women, read more